Why people are talking about this new t-shirt printing catchphrase?

Finally getting just a few full color garments at a cheap price is possible. here's why...

No minimum orders (Get just one full color custom made t-shirt)

Not set-up or screen charges

No mechanical art separations, films or art charges

No ink mixing or press cleanup

No on press registration

No charge for different size images

Larger format printing at the same price

Goes directly from computer to printer to garment (This means the shirts can be done on demand)

What makes t-shirt printing different then other Denver direct to garment print shops?

With thirty years as a denver t-shirt screen print & embroidery shop, We embraced on this technologie early and have been perfecting it for several years now. You will find that many of Denvers screen printers appear to offer it on their websites as the demand grows, but they do not actually do it in house. this means they have to add a markup in order to make a profit.

Our DTG Viper is a large format printer, printing Full color images 16" wide by almost 40" tall. it also uses a WIMS ( White ink management system) that allows us to print ANY color garment including blacks and dark shirts. This printer uses an Epsom 4800 print head for extreme detail and has a large platten that will print two adult shirts or four youth shirts in one pass allowing us to print more shirts faster.

As of the publishing of this article, every Denver based Direct to garment website we could find we are the only one both showing a price up front ( most offer to give you a quote) and charging the same price for any color & Size garment. ( We found one website with a STARTING price only to find out it was for white and light tee shirts only and there was an up-charge for shirts larger then one X large.

We've had time to listen to what people want and need and have worked hard to develop tools to assit you in getting and creating your own custom garment fast and affordably. Here are a few of the things we offer that other Denver t-shirt websites do not..

FREE on-line design lab software

Upload your own art and photo and create around it

Create multi color custom text that arches and bends

Database of full color clip art.

Change colors of clip art for custom color theory

Shows Prices of final project as you go

Same price for any color & size garment

Free online drawing and photo software for art creation

Free online templates for mock ups and marketing fliers

Pay via PayPal, credit card, Phone or even cash in person

Hire our professional designer artist to create a seriously custom illustration for usually the minimum charge ( $30.00)

I saw this on a tee shirt forum recently and thought I would try to explain the options you should find near you.

" I just wanted to create a single custom t-shirt from my photo that I embellished in photoshop. But after calling around to local screen print shops I was told by most that I had to order a whole bunch of them or at least a minimum of 24 and that the number of colors in my design would make it to expensive to to the " Screen " or " Set-Up" charges ??? &%@#$$%!@!! WTF?

Can't they just print off a transfer and heat press it to my garment? I remember places in the mall that used to do that 20 years ago... I would think that technology had made it even better, faster easier. Why can I not find anybody to print just one or two of my full color custom designs onto a t shirt or sweatshirt?

Thanks"

Sharon M.

T-shirt heat transfers are still around however in order for them to work on Dark or non light colored garments they have to be printed on a White patch. That patch is then cut out in the shape of your artwork or graphic so it is not just a square page on the shirt.

Screen printing dose require that a silk screen stencil be made for each of the Primary colors used.... there is a charge for the creation, set-up, registering, mixing the ink and printing each color. this is only cost effective when the one time charge is absorbed into a large number of goods... the more the quantity of shirts the less per shirt you pay.

Today's NEW technology is even better, faster, more colorful, longer lasting and easier... It is called Direct to garment or Digital Direct printing... This process use's a giant inkjet printer with special inks to digital print an image right from the computer to your shirt or ! hoodie! This is an extremely High resolution imaging process that results in an amazingly Bright colored, detailed final reproduction.

Keep in mind these are specialty printers, very expensive and not all are created equal.. " What does this mean to the basic person just wanting a single custom printed tee shirts?"

Many shops and websites that offer Direct to garment or substrate digital printing cannot print on dark or colored garments as the cheaper printers do not offer a white ink printing system,, the white ink is very thick and problematic to deal with. Other shops offer dark garment printing but the cheaper printer only images an 11" X 8" print area.

Here at t-shirt printing Denver, Located in beautiful Lakewood, Colorado just near Golden, We offer DTG Direct 2 garment printing on clothing and apparel items in a large format 16"X 32" Full Color on any color of textile! There are no set up charges, no art charges if you use our free online design lab, no minimum order, Get Just one full color custom garment with your graphic or photo.... This is done in just a couple of days and can be picked up right here at our colorado facility.. All work is done right here in house...

Our online website offers several tools to help you create your own custom t shirt art, such as the Photolab that is basically photoshop, and the design lab that let's you upload a photo or graphic and add clip art, fonts and text and customize it to your desire...

We are your one stop shop for all things custom apparel, We offer in house silk screen printing and embroidery services as well. Not an artist and want something REALY special and custom? We have an amazing on staff artist, Illustrator to create that killer image just for you.

Now that the new Digital direct garment printing has come of age people wonder if all garment should be printed with it?

There are some major differences between the two reproduction processes and each one has its merits and faults. Let me see if I can explain them to you in simple terms.

Silk screen printing.This process has been around for thousands of years. it is one of the oldest forms of reproduction invented in Asia as far back as 4000 years ago. Not much has changed with the process, Instead of using a silk screen we now use polyester to keep the cost down, Originally the stencil was hand painted onto each screen, nowadays we use computers to generate the film positives and a liquid light sensitive emulation much like film to image the stencil onto each screen.

_____SILK SCREEN PRINT PROCESS_______

PRO's......

1.) Durability. Because we use a squeegee with lots of pressure applied the plasitol ( Plastic) ink gets maximum penetration into the garment weave or fiber. When cured solid with heat the ink is guaranteed to outlast any woven fiber.2.) Color control. With silk screen printing each ink is mixed to the pantone standard and a color match can be guaranteed. with the exception of tertiary color builds. ( these are colors created on the garment when two or more colors mix together during printing.3.) Specialty inks.With the screen print process we can print custom inks like puff that swells up, Glitters, metal flakes & crystalline, Glow in the dark & neon or black light inks, color changing photo chromatic inks, clears and jells, Just to name a few.4.) Mass production.Silk screen printing is designed for mass production, It's all about quantity. Screen printing can produce dozens of shirts in the time it takes a digital bubble jet printer to print one shirt. These means major savings when ordering custom garments in quantity.

CON's....

1.) Set ups. For each color of ink printed, there needs to be a film and a silk screen stencil created, these in-turn get put an a press and the images are registered to fit each other. Ink is mixed and put in each screen. Most screen printers charge a set up fee to cover the cost associated with the lengthy process. While this may seem like a lot of money for say 12 shirts, when it is applied to a run of hundreds of shirts it equates to only a few cents per shirt. This is typically the reason most printers have a minimum order of say 12-24 pieces.

Urban Legend Con's :-P

Some people claim the plastisol ink prints a rubber plastic patch like Blob on shirts, Killing the breathability of the garment.... While this is typically possible and most likely to happen with inexperienced screen printers, there are a number of ways to insure this does not take place, from the way the art is designed to ink thinners and High mesh count screens that do not allow thick concentrations of ink. _____DIGITAL DIRECT 2 GARMENT_______

PRO's......

1.) No set up's!This means two things, No cost associated with films, screens and press set up, this now makes it affordable to print a limited amount including just one shirt or garment. Also the time involved in set ups means direct digital custom shirts can be produced very quickly. Many people even reefer to the process as Print On Demand for just this reason.

2.) Full digital color.

Printing four color process with screen printing is Very expensive and most shops only offer it on white shirts with a huge minimum order in the hundreds. This is due to the set up time quadrupling. Digital printers will print a photograph or computer graphic in Full color ( millions of tints and tones.)CON's....

1.) Not quantity driven.Because it takes the same amount of time to produce a single shirt and the process is much slower then screen printing there is not the vast savings as quantity's go up.

2.) No color matching. Printing four color process, ie Cyan, yellow, magenta and Black, can have mixed results for color matching, an exact Pantone match is impossible, many files will print completely different then what is seen on various digital monitors, and colors may be different each time a job is run.

3.) No specialty inks. Four color process does not generate neon colors like those designed with RGB, the printers do not print custom inks like glitters, neon's, color changing, metallic or glow in the dark.

So, to summarize it seems that the new Digital direct fills a specific need for full color low quantity runs that are affordable. Screen printing three full color garments would be too cost prohibitive. While it seems to fill a need for the so called print on demand, it's not very profitable to do it this way. Just like all the web sites that offer this service... Imagagine you sell shirts on your blog, you may only get three orders on week, and 73 the next.... These can be printed as the orders come in. With screen printing you need to order and have stock. But the profits from doing it that way can be five or six times greater then the digital print on demand.Screen printing is always the best choice for Quality goods in large numbers!

We get a lot of calls from people looking for one hour Custom tee shirts. Often they refer to the old days when there where shops in malls that did heat transfers. I know a lot of people just assume that tee shirts can be custom printed at the touch of a button in this digital computerized age.

Let me attempt to explain to you all the differences and options that the general person has when it comes to getting Custom decorated apparel or garments in a retail environment...

Most clothing decoration be it embroidery or screen printing is not offered in a retail environment. At least not Custom done work. It takes time to produce these things and Most shops are running hundreds of different jobs a day.

Heat transfers, a process where an image, photograph or art is printed onto a transfer sheet of pare via many different reproduction processes. Then latter applied to a garment with a heat press just when someone really wanted to buy one. Is an old process. It was rarely if ever Custom.

This is a process the common person can now do at home on their personal computer. You can create any artwork or design and print it onto transfer pare from you local office supply or craft shop. This Typically only works on light or white garments,. Unless you use a white transfer paper an cut out the deign by hand.

While I have heard that some one hour photo developing sops are offering heat transfers shirts that you create from your photo at a kiosk. Still it is light or white shirts only and does not stand up well to repeated washings.

With the new Digital Direct or DTG print on demand. The image is applied directly yo the garment or clothing item via an ink or bubble jet printer using a special Non toxic water based ink. Many of these systems employee a white in so that art can now be printed on any color of garment. This form of custom apparel imaging requires a high resolution quality computer graphic file or photo. It’s not something you can just take any low resolution image from the internet and use. So there is some time in creating the original art files needed.

It’s important to remember that shops that employee these Direct to garments systems typically have a full production list of work To be done. In other words it's not like they are in a mall just waiting for someone to bring in a shirt or art and have it created while they wait. I means this is a custom made product. We are however getting close to the day when you can get a custom made full color printed jacket, hoodie or tee from a little one hour booth on the mall.

Custom Create you own printed and embroidered clothing.

Now it's quick, easy and affordable to get custom printed , t-shirts, jackets, hoodies, pants and any clothing item, for any event. Want just one custom tee shirt for an office prank? how about two or three Custom printed hooded sweat shirts to commemorate your child's birthday & Bar and Bat Mitzvah ?

Getting and designing you own custom apparel is more cost effective and easy then you probably think. Design your own fashion apparel to stand out in a crowd. Custom t-shirts are a great way to get you small business noticed and give a professional look to your staff. They are the best Promotional item of all times. Who wouldn't jump at a free t-shirt? and if it looks great people wear it. Thus giving your business, website, event, club or whatever Free exposure.

Why pay big bucks for you favorite high school or college apparel when the designs are boring and stereo typical? Be creative and design your own sportswear. Sell it for profit or just glimmer in the idea that your is original and one of a kind.

Unusual and unique tee shirt prints get attention. trust me I know. I've been doing t-shirt design for three decades and wear them everywhere. The really unique design allays get comments from any crown, be it at Disney land or Bob's bait shop in Timsville Iowa.

Imagine giving out Custom full color all over printed shirts with your family's Christmas photograph rather then cards? Think of your friends surprise when you reward them with Custom commemorative towels or jackets after a fishing or golf outing? There are thousands of ways to impress, enjoy and profit from custom designed apparel and clothing accessories.

Give us a call or fill out a free estimate form and find out how cost effective and easy it is.

One of the best ways to get the most out of Custom screen printing textiles and sportswear is to use the color of the garment to your advantage in the design.

When designing artwork for screen printed garments, allays try to factor in the fabric color. you can use it as part of the design, thus limiting the amount of ink and screen print set up charges. It can be used to alter the color of the inks being printed as well. Using a limited white underlay or base under some areas of color and not others can create different, tint, hues, tones and effects with Stunning results. None of which cost more in the silk screening process.

Don't just stick any design on any color shirt. Use the shirt color as a design concept and get more out of your custom printing. really it only takes time and thought. the results can look like it took more money and printing when that is not the case.

How do I create a design for t-shirt screen printing that will not result in an art charge form my printer?

If you do not understand a term used, click the hyperlink for a complete description.

When creating Digital artwork for the silk screen print process as used in textile and clothing printing requires a few rules to get it production ready. Here are some tips and techniques that can help keep you from getting art charges from your local Silk screen printing t-shirt shop.

Screen printing almost allays uses spot color! What is spot color? does that means solid areas of ink? The answer to question two is NO. Spot color means that instead of CMYK or (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black), Or RGB (red, green & blue) of digital displays like tv's and computer monitors..... each area of color will produce a single film positive... cmyk produces four films with dot pattern percentages of color on each.

A Process design like jpeg, Even if the artist only used two colors will produce four films unless done in spot color. And rgb designs will not produce films. these are only for monitors and displays like web pages. Spot color is easiest and best in a vector based drawing program like Adobe® Illustrator, Corel Draw or other post script drawing programs.. the are Open Source free programs like Inkscape and others. These vector based art files are the preferred format for silk screening for several reasons....

They produce resolution free computer graphics files. this means they can be enlarged to any size.

Always convert type to curves or outlines otherwise you may have to send the actual computer font file to the printing company and many font files can be corrupt or copyright protected from sharing.

Stay away from percentages of color less then 10% these may not image in the screen. And due to Dot gain on press any percentage of color over 70% will just fill in to 100%

Stay away from transparency... Use percentages instead.. transparencies do not always rip over correct and are mostly for monitor displays.

Be Leary of cool filters that may convert spot swatches to cmyk.. Make sure the color blends and gradients are built with spot swatches.

Remember to make any white in the design a spot swatch... Unlike most forms of reproduction, t-shirt printing does not print the color of the tee shirt.

Remember to make all color percentage lighter then you want on the actual garment.. due to on press dot gain during the actual printing process.

White ink is the thickest pigment and is usually put on a low mesh count screen.. this means small detail should not be done in white.

Saving bit-map or raster based files to a vector format like .eps does not convert them to vector... Vector has to be created.

Things that can be done with spot color vector graphics......

Tertiary colors! these colors are created on the t-shirt and do not result in a set-up or screen charge... they are FREE COLORS!"

Anything and everything!

Tertiary colors! these colors are created on the t-shirt and do not result in a set-up or screen charge... they are FREE COLORS!

Duo-tones, tri-tones

Halftones

Solid graphics

Gradients

Color tints, color tones, color percentages

Crisp line work.

Weathered and distressed effects. antiquing.

Much more....

Things that can be done with spot color raster graphics......

Spot color photos

Simulated process

Indexing or dither dot patters

Custom halftone shapes

Airbrush effects

Photographic effects

Special textures

the list goes on....

It is important to remember, that solid graphics and type should never be done in bitmap or raster, You can import raster files into your vector drawing file and merge them with solid graphics, type and other graphics effects that are not photographic halftones.

More to come later.. Hope this helps you in creating some Killer Custom apparel designs with minimal cast associated with the silk screen printing process of reproduction.

Our Direct to garment system is up and running

Our new State of the art Digital direct to garment printer with it's White ink printing system is up and running. Now it is easy and more cost effective then ever to get just one or just a few Custom printed t-shirts, Hooded sweat shirts or any garment printed.This system uses white ink printing that will image any color garment dark or light. It's amazingly large print area at 16" x 45". will let you image the entire front and back of a hoodie.

We've been having lots of fun experimenting with this system. It's just so easy to print custom tee shirts with no need for vector spot color art, No production art and film positives, No screen burning or setups, no ink mixing....It's push button digital t-shirt imaging at it's best.We just send the file to print :-O

Additionally this system is using Water based inks. this means a softer less patchy, plastic feel to the final product.

Art needs to be high resolution. and you may not want to print something that is not thousands of colors.... this prints full color photographic images. It would be a waist to do just one one color shirt. But we'll do it too.

Give us a call to see how we can assist you with any apparel decoration needs.

We do In-House full color screen printing, Embroidery, digitizing and graphic design.